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Katie Couric Bravely Details the Moment She Learned of Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis: “I Felt Sick and the Room Started to Spin”

Renowned journalist Katie Couric revealed today that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The former co-anchor of Today, who lost her first husband in 1998 to colon cancer, penned an essay via her website describing her story and encouraging women to get mammograms.

Early last summer — June 21 to be exact — Couric was told she had breast cancer on her eighth wedding anniversary.

“I felt sick and the room started to spin,” she recalled from the moment she got the call from her doctor. “I was in the middle of an open office, so I walked to a corner and spoke quietly, my mouth unable to keep up with the questions swirling in my head.”

Couric described it as a “heart-stopping, suspended animation feeling” as she remembered all those in her life who were affected by cancer: her husband Jay Monahan’s diagnosis at 41 and the “terrifying, gutting nine months that followed,” her sister’s pancreatic cancer “which would later kill her at 54,” and her mother-in-law’s ovarian cancer, “which she was fighting as she buried her son, a year and nine months before she herself was laid to rest.”

As far as treatment, Couric underwent a lumpectomy on July 14 to remove the tumor, which was as big as an olive. And while she was able to skip over chemotherapy, she was told she would still need to do radiation as well as take a certain medication for five years. After beginning radiation earlier this month, she says she had her final round yesterday.

“I was warned that I may be fatigued and my skin may turn a little pink,” she explained. “Yesterday was my final round. My left breast does look like I’ve been sunbathing topless, but other than that, I’ve felt fine.”

Couric also used her platform to encourage readers to get their annual mammogram, adding that she was six months late this time but “shudders” at the thought of what would have happened if she waited any longer.

“I can’t tell you how many times during this experience I thanked God that it was 2022. And how many times I silently thanked all the dedicated scientists who have been working their asses off to develop better ways to analyze and treat breast cancer,” she wrote. “But to reap the benefits of modern medicine, we need to stay on top of our screenings, advocate for ourselves, and make sure everyone has access to the diagnostic tools that could very well save their life.”